Laminate flooring

Monday, June 30
   A big relief to have the laminate flooring bought.  While at Home Depot in Branson, we couldn't help but notice a pallet of flooring in the middle of the paint aisle.  Low and behold, the very type of flooring we have been thinking about buying was on sale for HALF PRICE. This is one shade darker than one we had thought about, but we love the color and the hand hewn look, and the price.  We called Home Depot in Harrison and they had 52 cases. We bought the two pallets of 24 cases in Branson and paid for the others over the phone. After picking up the 52 other cases,  we are only two or three cases short of flooring the entire house minus two bathrooms which we will tile.  The color is endenbury hickory.  We just are not carpet people.  I love carpet, but carpet and farm life just don't mix.  We can throw down area rugs and hope they add some ambience and warmth to the rooms.

The well man  made the final connection on the well and we are ready to lay plumbing pipes soon .  We do have running water at the barn and at the back of the house.

Hot and humid

Sunday, June 29
          The weather continues to be hot with a daily rain shower or two.  The humidity comes and goes throughout the day.  We haven't gotten as much done this week as planned due to the showers or downpours.  This has been a good week to get supplies and materials for the house.
Joe got all the  lumber for the addition ordered.  We bought a vanity for the guest room, the master tub, and room ducting for AC and heat.  The heater is also here .it is part in and part in the hall right now.  Joe unpacked it to make sure all parts were ok. We have continued to work on stringing electrical wires.  Having some trouble getting a few wires around a few corners where old 2x4's had to be braced so there may be 4 boards with a small wire hole  to bend wire through.  We will get it done one way or another.  I am ready to start putting insulation in where the wiring is finished.
      Our garden is growing and all the tomato plants have tomatoes.  Squash and peppers also have little veggies growing  on them.  I have to replant the peas as they were in soil we hadn't worked with much .  I bought some good soil to till in before I replant the peas.  We enjoy checking on the tomatoes daily as we can see such progress.
 
        Mud room toilet framed.                                      Insulation
 
  Placing tub for right height so I can see out the window.                Heater

Hay & footings update

Monday, June 23
      Well...we wound up with our share of the hay being 26 large round bales, about 5' x 5'.  My cow and calf probably couldn't eat that much all next winter if they tried.  Now we need to fence in the bales so the cows don't start tearing up the bales .  Some days we have about 65 cows from next door over here.  They wonder over, eat a bit and head back home. My horses are in the neighbors pasture, so can't really complain .  Besides the cows fertilize the pasture and keep the grass from getting too tall.  We had the bales put in the lean to building, but about 8 bales didn't fit.  We will be on the lookout for corral panels at auctions for the fencing. We can put up T posts and barbed wire temporarily .

     The footings are all in and if it quits raining for a few days we can lay the joists, subfloor and raise the new walls.

It's really happening

Wednesday, June 18

     Two of the addition footings wall are set.  Think the block layers will finish up tomorrow.
It was so hot today we took off for about half an hour and went to the lake for a quick dip.  The cool water was so refreshing.
     We are ready to take the boat out again and go fishing and swimming.

Hay fields

June 16

     One of our hay fields has been mowed, raked and baled.  It produced 13 large round bales that are about 5 ft by 5 ft.  Each weighs about half a ton.  Second field is cut and raked.  It should yield  a bit more hay than the first field.  The third field is smaller and should yield  about 10 bales.  We keep half the hay and the people doing the work get the other hall .
     I guess with the  hay bales in the field and two cows we could be considered a small farm.

Footings and minis picture

June 13

The septic arrived and the driver had it in the ground in no time at all.  We picked up the large blue roll of 500 feet of water line.  Water line will go from the well down to the house . Then, we will have another line from a junction run out to the barn for water there.

This week has been busy, but very exciting to see such progress.

The block layers will be here Monday to lay the foundation for the addition.    While all this is going on the minis are in their new electric fence pasture.  They are in one area and the front and back yards are electrified to keep the two big horses out.

Trenches Everywhere!

June 9 - 11

What a busy week.  Monday started with both of us seeing the doctor.  Joe for a spider bite that was causing the skin to sluff off and look like a cigaret burn.  He got antibiotics and is doing better.  I have bronchitis so got antibiotics also.  

It seems like a few major projects are getting done on the house.   We had trenches for water, power,  and footings for the addition dug.  There are trenches everywhere in the beautiful lawn!  Out back is a 7 foot hole for the septic . 

 June 12

The footings for the addition foundation were poured today.  It is nice to begin to get a feel for the actual size of the addition instead of little orange markers in the lawn representing corners.

The water trenches were finished today and some of the old pipe into the house was cut out.  Entergy has to come run the underground wires from the pole in the yard to the house sometime next week.